Marco Di Vaio and Antonino Asta were given their full international debuts in this pre-World Cup friendly at Catania's Cibali Stadium, but it was the second-half substitutes who turned an embarrassing performance around.
This was the first of four tests for Giovanni Trapattoni's men ahead of trips to England and the Czech Republic as well as welcoming Alvaro Recoba's Uruguay. The US qualified for Japan and Korea through the Confederations section.
The experimental Azzurri side was without the likes of Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Demetrio Albertini, Massimo Ambrosini, Paolo Negro, Christian Panucci, Filippo Inzaghi and Vincenzo Montella through injury. This match therefore gave Trap the opportunity to try out new faces and alternatives for the 23-man World Cup squad.
Italy started out brightly with Christian Vieri, Francesco Totti and new entries Asta and Di Vaio combining well upfront, but the midfield aggression of the US soon took charge.
The best early opportunity fell to the Americans on eight minutes as a misunderstanding between Marco Materazzi and Cristiano Zanetti put Landon Donovan through on goal. Fortunately for the Azzurri, his angled drive struck the upright.
It proved to be no isolated incident as the US dominated the first half, particularly in the revamped midfield where Damiano Tommasi and Cristiano Zanetti failed to deal with the constant pressure.
Totti was particularly disappointing as Italy's best - and only - chance of the opening period was a Vieri header that went just wide of the far post.
As expected, there were massive changes for the second half including the debut of Chievo striker Massimo Marazzina. The 27-year-old became the first ever player from this club to wear the Azzurri jersey.
Alessandro Del Piero was one of the substitutes and immediately brought a fine save out of goalkeeper Brad Friedel with a curling right foot effort. The Juventus star also went close on a precise Francesco Coco cross soon after as the team looked far more lively in this second period.
The new stars eventually broke the deadlock as Gianluca Zambrotta recovered the ball in midfield before Marazzina provided a perfect low cross for Del Piero.
It was a completely different match after the break as Cristiano Doni and Zambrotta provided the midfield with a solidity that had previously been lacking and Toldo had no further saves to make.
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